IRS Confirms Penalties For Affordable Care Act Abstainers

By Sindhu Sundar

Law360, New York (August 27, 2013, 6:11 PM ET) -- Those who flout the Affordable Care Act’s individual care mandate — which requires most Americans to purchase health insurance — may be hit with fines starting at $95 when the law goes into effect in 2014, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department announced Tuesday.

The Treasury Department and IRS said they mostly finalized rules governing penalties for violating the mandate, euphemistically billed “shared responsibility payments.” Under the rules, Americans who do not purchase health insurance — and if they are not exempt from...